SubNauseous
by JimMoriartyH1
Summary: Crash landed, wounded, and stranded not even remembering her own name a woman has to fight to survive in the harsh and often times unforgiving environment of planet 4546B. When things go from bad to significantly worse its up to her to dive deep into the depths of the alien planet to attempt to save herself and maybe the planet. I do not own Subnautica or any of its properties.
1. Survival Mode

**Quick Note: I really love Subnautica and wrote a little bit of this story just for fun. However, if anyone actually wants to read more of this fic just let me know. If there's a demand I will happily supply. I know that when I looked into the tag it was sparse to say the least. But I don't know how many people actually want to read Subnautica fanfic. So, let me know! Either way enjoy!**

The sound of water gently lapping against the hull of her escape pod was the first sound the woman heard. She groaned softly eyelids fluttering what she heard in her head was something completely different. Alarms blaring. Red light strobing across the oh so sterile walls of the ship. People screaming. Someone pushing her into a hatch. Her almost automatic movements as she strapped in. A scream when she felt herself detach. A piece of metal bouncing around the pod the horrible clanking arrhythmic against the alarm that was still blaring inside her tiny bubble. The metal flying for her face.

A soft gasp and her eyes flew open as she jerked back against the chair she had strapped herself in what felt like moments prior.

" _Scans show that you have regained consciousness. Please affirm."_ A dull female voice rang out. The silence that followed felt heavy. The woman blinked looking to the empty pod. It was a single.

She took in a deeper breath feeling her head aching with her pulse. Suddenly and without preamble the restraints that had saved her life felt like they were suffocating her. There was no thought as she fumbled with shaking, hardly functioning hands.

" _Scans show that you have regained consciousness. Please verbally affirm."_ The voice sounded again.

"Affirmed." She grunted just before she fell out of the seat the restraints finally giving way. There wasn't much room, but she somehow managed to sprawl out across the entirety of the floor.

" _The Aurora suffered orbital hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected."_ It played.

"What?" She asked pushing herself up hurriedly. "What do you mean by that?"

" _You have suffered minor head trauma. This is considered an optimal outcome. This PDA has now rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: to keep you alive on an alien world. Please refer to the databank for detailed survival advice. Good luck."_

"Good luck?" The woman hissed to the voice. "Really? That's what you have to say about this?" It was a quiet in the face of her anger. "You said alien world?"

" _Lifepod secondary systems offline."_ The voice droned. " _Unable to scan surrounding environment._ "

"Damn, what?" The woman sighed holding a hand to her head. She sighed and grabbed onto the ladder pulling herself up to the hatch in the ceiling of the lifepod. "Fine, I'll take a look myself." She grunted as she popped the top open. The pod hissed slightly before letting her into the open air.

The first thing that caught her attention was the huge mass of burning ship that she had previously been aboard. The second was that all she could see till the horizon was clouds and sea.

"Holy hell," she breathed.

The air was fresh carrying the taste of salt. The breeze felt nice, cooling her slightly overheated skin. She wondered briefly how long she had been knocked out, how long the fire had to spread. It was a wonder she hadn't died of some inhalation.

"Cheers for small miracles." She grumbled sliding back into the pod. She kept the door open, letting the air circulate and pull out the smell of smoke and burning cables. "Okay….what do I do first?"

" _Primary objectives,"_ The voice rattled off suddenly, " _Find a source of food. Find a source of water. Restore lifepod secondary systems."_

"Okay…" She glanced around the cabin. "Is there anything online that can help me?"

" _The resources available to you in Lifepod 5. PDA: system status active."_

"Yeah, knew that."

" _Fabricator: system status active."_ It continued oblivious to the snarky comments she was directing toward it. _"Lighting: system status active."_

"Stop." She commanded and the voice fell silent. "The fabricator is online?" She wandered to the machine reaching out and letting her fingertips brush against the activation panel. It unfolded with only a few strained sounds before creating a holoscreen in front of her. "Well good. If I can find some materials….that are known…" She mumbled to herself. "…I can maybe make something to repair the pod."

She pulled herself up onto the top of the pod again. If the taste of salt was any indication this sea was much like Earth's seas. Salt based and undrinkable. "Food. Water. Materials." She paused. "What materials do I need to make a repair gun?"

" _Repair tool."_ It almost felt like the PDA was correcting her. _"Materials needed: silicone rubber, sulfur, titanium."_

"How do I find any of those?" She grumbled looking at the waters below. She could just make out what looked to be colorful reefs and a few shadowy things moving around.

" _Recommended equipment for identifying materials: Scanner."_ The woman sighed already beginning to hate the monotone voice.

She dangled her legs off the side and after a small moment of hesitation she pushed herself off into the water. She felt the slight buzz as the nanothread of her suit wrapped up around her eyes creating a barrier against the saltwater. It happened in an instant so she could immediately see underneath the water.

"Wow," She automatically burst out bubbles following her watery voice. It was all cream colored sand interrupted by spurs of color. A few fish darted around her looking curiously at her. They were all shapes and sizes. A curved one that seemed to have a knack for speed darted out to bump against her side. She jerked back expecting some sort of attack, but it merely bumped against her and floated nearby stunned by the impact. The main part of its body was a deep blue that faded into a much brighter cyan at the tips of its fins. To be honest it looked like a boomerang with yellow decaling….and teeth. She propelled herself slightly away from it, but it didn't seem dangerous. In fact as soon as it gained its senses again it darted away from her moving to join an entire school of them.

There were suddenly two rapid beeps in succession. _"Thirty seconds."_ The voice warned ominously. The tightness in her chest confirmed that she was running out of air. However she felt vaguely unsettled that her suit knew before she did.

It wasn't hard to push her way back to the surface taking a deep breath and trying not to spit at the pervading salty taste. Everyone who applied to settle on the new planet knew that the suit they assigned you was special. She didn't realize just how smart it was.

"PDA, bring up my biological readings." She ordered quietly. Instantly a heads up display overlaid her vision. Scrolling everything from her temperature to the glucose levels of her blood. It was cluttered and disorienting and she shut her eyes immediately. The display didn't go away. It must have accessed the entertainment chip in her eyes.

"Ugh, that's a lot of information."

" _User friendly display mode available."_

"Oh, do that." The display instantly vanished, replaced by four round bubbles in the lower right of her vision. The largest one displayed at the moment was teal and green colored showing O2 in the greyed out middle with a 45 underneath. Underneath that was a small red bubble, with a bit of the red leached out. In the middle was a heart.

"Oh...right." She spluttered treading water. "Minor head trauma."

Next to the heath bubble was a yellow bubble that was only halfway filled showing an apple. Beside that was a blue bubble with a drop of water that was about the same.

"And that explains the food and water warning earlier."

" _Your medical history shows that you do not consume enough nutrients to properly sustain your body. This is a liability in a hostile environment."_

"Listen," She said with a flare of anger, "I don't need to be lectured to by a damn PDA of all things." She took a deep breath and pushed herself under the water coming face to face with a large yellow eye. For a moment she almost screamed, but she immediately realized that it was a rather small fish and that its body was dominated by the yellow eye.

That could be a source of food, she thought reaching out and snagging ahold of the fish with a movement quick as lightning. It struggled fiercely but she swallowed her guilt and pushed it into the little bag on her back. Usually people kept personal items in the bag, but she hadn't really felt the need when she had her room. Now she wished that she had if only to have something of her own with her. Comfort would be nice right about now.

She swam about catching more fish, one of them looking like a pair of pink lungs attached to a thin slice of goofy looking fish. She caught some of the boomerang fish too, they were much easier to catch than the creepy eye fish. Her muscles were screaming by the time she pulled herself back to the pod. Too tired to climb up the side she swung open the bottom hatch, shakily depositing herself inside and carefully closing the door. It had started to look like night and she didn't want to know what roamed the sands after dark. Not to mention she didn't have a flashlight.

For a minute she simply lay on the floor, panting and tired.

" _Calorie intake recommended._ " She jerked at the sudden voice. She hadn't really heard from the voice in a while. After she got the hang of how long she could hold her breath it had stopped hounding her.

"Right." She mumbled moving to the fabricator. "This can cook fish, right?." It didn't take long for her to load the machine up with what she had caught. The display lit up with the options she could make, and she froze as she saw a water option. She clicked it and saw a small picture of the lung-like fish. Not lungs then...bladders. Water bladders. There was no name for the species.

"Rename alien species." She ordered.

" _System ready._ "

"Bladderfish." There was a small moment of hesitation and then the name shifted from unknown to bladderfish. She grinned at her new discovery. Maybe Alterra would pay her for her 'field research' later. Along with the other survivors they would be able to afford the best housing. There were no other entries for the other fish she caught yet. Maybe no one had thought of naming them. It had only been a day, might as well pick funny names for them.

She had the fabricator begin extracting water from the bladderfish and was pleased to hear the sound of water being poured into a bottle. She grabbed the bottle and took a sip. Tasted like clean water.

" _Alien lifeforms may have unexpected applications. Utilizing alien resources is a proven survival strategy."_

"Thanks Karen." She muttered reminded of her over talkative supervisor when she first applied to be a settler for Alterra.

" _System name accepted."_

She rolled her eyes at the reply and went back to naming the fish she had found. The large one with the eye was now a peeper, and the curved fish was now called a boomerang. Out of the two she decided to cook a peeper first.

" _The fabricator cooks small organisms, while disposing of the skeletal structure, bodily fluids and internal organs, thus rendering them safe for human consumption."_

"Well at least I don't have to do that myself." She said grabbing the cooked meat and taking a small bite. It tasted...what you expected it to taste like really. Fishy, tough, but warm and filling. She ate the rest of the small fish and quickly keyed in for a boomerang to be cooked. It didn't take long. She hesitated then bit into the fin and was surprised to find that the meat there was plump. It had the smallest bit of a sweet taste to it along with the fishy flavor. On its own it was good, but she was sure that if she cooked it properly in garlic and some butter it would be amazing.

She plowed her way through two more boomerangs and another peeper before she felt okay again. Sipping on her water she climbed back to the top of the pod looking out toward the Aurora, burning in the darkness.

"Karen, are there any survivors on the Aurora?"

" _Survivor count unknown. Lifepod secondary systems offline. Repair to activate communications array."_

"So they won't know I'm here till I get it repaired, huh?" Light shifted eerily beneath the pod and she shifted to get a better look. It looked like the colorful coral had begun to glow in the darkness. Nervously she tapped against the pod her nails making a staccato beat for a moment before she heaved herself back into the water.

It was glowing. A shifting array of reds, blues, and greens making it much easier to see than she had expected. A school of fish rushed past in the distance, but they were all flashing cyan lights. Boomerangs, she realized after a moment. Swimming out further she realized that most creatures here had some sort of light. The Peeper's eyes glowed a disturbing yellow. Bladderfish shed a soft pink light. There was so many others she wasn't sure where to start trying to catalogue it. In the distance big yellow pods glowed shifting along with tall dark swaying masses. She made a note to explore that once the sun rose, but for now she supposed she could explore the more lit areas.

It wasn't long before she found a few darkened caves, which she refused to go into, but along the outer walls of that cave were little rocky nodes that had slipped by her attention multiple times. Curious she swam over and pushed at one.

The rock easily crumbled and revealed a dark metallic clump. She reached out and picked it up running her fingers along the bumpy surface.

" _Titanium: discovered. Titanium is a versatile and essential construction material."_ Karen rattled off.

"Yes!" She screamed and instantly regretted it as she let out the breath she had been holding.

" _Oxygen."_

She quickly surfaced realizing she was a decent distance from the pod, further than she had gone chasing the fish. Gasping for breath she stowed the titanium and made her way back to the pod, utterly exhausted. Once inside she sipped on her water knowing that keeping hydrated was essential for all the physical work she was doing.

"I should have worked out more." She sighed into the silence of the pod. The lapping of water was the only answer she got.

"Karen, do you have my music still?"

" _This PDA was rebooted in emergency mode. All personal files are stored in the Aurora's memory drives. The files can be recovered by connecting to the Aurora."_

"So my objective is still to fix the pod."

" _Affirmative."_

It took her awhile to get to sleep, but when she did her dreams were tinged with smoke.


	2. Crash-course on Nanotech

**Well, to answer you DevoutRelic yes I plan on having a twist in this story other than just a retelling of my gameplay. I'm hoping to get further into the tech side of the story plus a few other things that are in the works. It may stray from cannon a little.**

 **Also thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Here's chapter two just for you.**

Sleep on a metal floor wasn't the greatest. When the woman slowly pulled herself to consciousness she groaned as her sore muscles made themselves known.

"Okay, I really should have worked out more." She hissed as she sat up. Every part of her was horribly aching, and she still needed more things to find so that the rescue teams could find her. "It's really irresponsible for them not to have repair tool onboard." She muttered to herself. "What if I couldn't leave the pod. What then, Alterra?"

She took a sip of water already wishing she was back on the Aurora with some version of toothpaste. Instead she had to sip on lukewarm slightly strange tasting water with a headache threatening to shatter her thoughts. Damn minor head trauma. After a while she finally pulled herself up and out of the pod grunting with the effort. The sky was already a vivid blue, speaking to just how much she had slept. The water seemed rather calm, a slightly breeze creating a mesmerizing effect as small waves all moved in the same direction. The water itself was a mixture of cyan and turquoise too clear to hide the bright spots of coral underneath.

The woman took in the scene breathing in the calm. It could have counted as serene if she could see trails of smoke like undulating grey silk in the sky streaming out the burning wreckage of her former ship. She tried to avoid the sight, but her eyes kept flickering over to the hulking mass. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but she could feel a slow building storm in her chest when she failed to find it.

"Okay then...I guess I'll go look at those….twisty things." She muttered before pushing herself into the water. Bubbles rolled up her body and she stiffened automatically when the suit created goggles once more. The woman wasn't sure she liked that her suit was so advanced. She wondered just how much it was monitoring her.

It took a few minutes of twisting in place wincing at the motion before she saw the slow moving masses in the distance. With the light of the day she could now see them for what they were. Seaweed with large yellow pods held in tight knit clusters at various places on the long stalks. It took her a few minutes of swimming, well more thrashing with how sore she was, before she ended up near the huge stalks of seaweed.

"Life on this planet grows in distinct and diverse ecological biomes." Karen suddenly spoke. "Further study recommended."

"How do you know that?" The woman sassed but she was staring down deeper in the water. She stuck her face underneath just to be sure.

The soft and sandy look that was around her pod seemed to fall away into a more green tinged….what she could only describe as a forest of seaweed. It was much deeper and as she watched she could see what looked like swordfish slowly meandering much further down. A shiver rolled through her body at the sight. She decided to stay away from the deeper part and only mess with the seaweed in front of her.

She tried to tug a tendril of it off, but it simply moved with her. Determined she tugged harder but only succeeded in making her arms ache even worse and left her in a mad rush to get air. Once she stabilized her breathing she went back down deciding she could tear a leaf off just yet. She swam a bit further down and grabbed onto a large yellow pod. It felt like a balloon filled with water if its skin was a bit thicker and the water was more oil-like. Gritting her teeth she ripped herself backward and spluttered when the pod came loose easily sending her into a half flip that left her upside down in the water.

The woman grabbed a few more of the large pods then decided to swim back to her temporary home. The suit might not know what it was, but if she shoved them into the fabricator she could figure it out. Soon enough she was dripping onto the floor of number 5 shoving the pod underneath the fabricator. It seemed to take a moment to scan the item before a new option popped onto screen. The woman curiously let her finger hover over the holo-button.

 **Silicone Rubber** it read in small neat letters off to the side.

The woman grinned and clicked the option. The fabricator came to life with a smooth hum. It quickly rendered the material down and after a moment a small roll of rubber sat before her. The woman pressed a finger into the material amused at the bouncy texture.

"Okay I have silicone rubber and titanium." She said triumphantly. "What else do I need?"

" _You currently possess all the materials needed to create a survival knife in the fabricator."_

"No, I meant for the repair tool. Wait I can make a knife?"

" _Correct."_ Karen answered. " _Remaining materials for the repair tool: sulfur."_

"Okay…" She mumbled her mind spinning. "So I need to be near a volcanic area." She muttered as she tucked the rolls of rubber into a side compartment along with the chunk of titanium. "Well not true." She muttered as she pulled herself up and out of the hatch again. "I really don't want to wind up near an active volcano. I don't really _need_ to be near one either, seeing as the whole point of this is to survive until they can send a rescue ship." She sighed and let herself slip back into the ocean.

Hours of exploring later and while she had found some interesting things like acidic mushrooms and a lot more titanium and had even managed to catch more boomerangs and bladderfish. But no sulfur. She surfaced and glanced toward the burning wreckage just to reassure herself that they weren't leaving without her. She had started to take longer and longer breaks as her body reached its limit for the day. Her limbs felt like lead, dragging her down rather than keeping her afloat. Still she searched ducking back beneath the water.

She had found a system of caves that were still close enough to the shallow waters to be considered safe. She had wandered all about the sandy area seeing that it was surrounded on all sides by the deeper seaweed places except for the few places which had red grass like plants all along the bottom. She had avoided leaving the shallows until now, only trailing on the outskirts of the seaweed places to grab more of the yellow pods.

She paused outside of one some instinct telling her that the caves were dangerous. She ignored the feeling and swam into the mouth of the cave letting her hands trail along the bottom kicking up sand as she went. She pushed deeper into the cave and took a small turn until she was completely swallowed.

" _Be advised: a common complication for cave divers is loss of orientation, followed by eventual asphyxiation_." Karen rattled off helpfully.

The woman immediately wanted to bolt, but the little tube of a cave twisted further in and her curiosity got the better of her. She would save her breath instead of berating Karen for just how unhelpful that little comment was. Of course spelunking is dangerous, but this was a little cave and the woman wanted to try every possible avenue before heading into the deeper and darker kelp infested region.

There was suddenly a flash of movement as a little red fish burst out of a small pod-like thing embedded in the wall. She could hear a high pitched sound through the water, as it barreled toward her the sound increasing in volume and pitch until the water nearly vibrated against her skin. The woman twisted trying to propel herself away from what looked to be a red pufferfish cyclops abomination but instead slammed into rock.

A small explosion rocked the cave. The woman screamed, losing precious oxygen. Red tendrils swirled around her, but she was already ripping herself outside painfully aware that her side was entirely made of fire.

" _Elevated levels of adrenaline indicate you feel you are in danger."_ Karen sounded far away. " _Tissue damaged detected."_ The woman exited the cave and flailed upward. When her head broke surface she took a breath and then let out a strangled sound that was a cross between a sob and a scream. " _You have taken damage. Nearest medical assistance: Lifepod 5."_

"What?" The woman wondered why the wounds stung so badly, but realized that she was in salt water. She half-assed paddled back to lifepod 5 trying to ignore the way a few fish trailed after her in the small curls of red she was leaving behind.

Pulling herself up into the pod was harder than expected, but when she finally rested on the floor panting she could see the tiny barbs sticking out of her side. They were bone white and she realized belatedly that the fish had literally exploded to send the shrapnel into her side. It must have been frightened to react so strongly.

" _Accessing Medical Kit Fabricator."_ Karen sounded off. There was a small pop and hiss. " _Panel opened, please retrieve the med-kit."_

The woman simply lay there breathing heavily. It hurt and the panel required standing up.

" _Please retrieve the med-kit."_ Karen repeated with the exact same tone. The woman wished that the system could sound more determined, or scared, or anything actually resembling human.

"You sound human in the actual sound of your voice," she babbled as she pulled herself up unsteadily to her feet. "But, you're so lacking in emotion that it's disturbing." She moved to the panel, which she realized she had never really looked at before, and pulled out a small familiar square.

"Nano and stim tech." She mumbled opening the package to reveal a small aerosol can and a small tube. "Right. Okay, first things first." She grabbed the can and popped the lid off. She glanced at her suit which she realized had slowly been trying to repair itself around the embedded spines. There were about six in all that had actually hit her. Four were in her side, one was further down in her thigh and the last was on her arm.

"Karen, temporarily disable suit repair." The training felt distant, but she had been drilled about this so many times the information seemed to bypass the head trauma that kept most of her memories hazy and out of reach. Things like her name. Or why she was needed to settle a new world.

" _Suit repair disabled."_ Karen responded.

The woman huffed out a long breath and grit her teeth. "Okay now comes the hard part." She reached over and took a hold of the spine in her arm. "Normally you don't remove something if you've been stabbed. It could be the one thing keeping you from bleeding out." She explained to Karen needing the distraction. "But in a case where you can't get to a medical bay, but have a med kit you can remove it. This spray is chock full of nanos that will cauterize the wound and begin to rebuild the tissue." She ripped the barb out with a grunt that quickly became a shriek through gritted teeth. With a shaking hand she sprayed the wound. It felt like a brand. Everything was dancing at the edges but she managed to put the can down and grab the tube.

"This helps with tissue regeneration, and along with the nanobots it can rebuild the skin and blood vessels in my arm." She told Karen squirting some into the wound. It was cold, but she had to move on. The next spine she ripped out was just shy of hitting the side of her breast. It had lodged itself into the bone, and the woman nearly passed out ripping the barb out. Each wound she treated with the nano spray and then the stim serum. By the time she got them all out she was shaking with exertion.

"Karen." She mumbled as she sat on her 'bed' which was more just a tucked away spot in the corner. "Enable suit repair."

" _Suit repair enabled."_ She felt the suit slither and repair itself over her wounds. " _Tissue damage detected."_ Karen rattled off.

"Yeah no shit." The woman bit out.

" _Sedatives are recommended. Linking with nano spray to more effectively remove biological waste."_ She continued.

The woman didn't care. She sat quietly. It wasn't until she noticed bits of blood and tissue leaking out of the places where her wounds were that she bothered to take notice.

"Karen what are you doing?"

" _Monitoring vital signs, scanning local area, removing biological waste, attempting to connect with Alterran ship Aurora, communicating with lifepod 5's onboard-"_

"Okay. Stop." As she instructed Karen fell silent. "Explain the removal of biological waste."

" _This system is designed to, when needed, connect with nanobuilders that are found in med-kits to more effectively help them heal. As the nanobots removed damaged and unusable tissue and fluids this system moves the biological waste away from the wound to promote healing."_

"Right, that's neat."

She slowly but surely fell asleep to the sounds of the waves lapping on the hull of her lifepod.


	3. Repairs

The next morning she didn't want to move, but something was nagging in the back of her mind as she ate some of the leftovers from yesterday. The wounds were almost gone, that nanobots having been rebuilding the area all night. When she first awoke she realized that there was blood underneath where she slept. She spent part of the morning using the seawater to clean it off. She took a small dip to clean the outside of her suit. Then she sat quietly until her suit reminded her to eat. Boomerangs were her favorite and she wished she had some way to spice them other than the little bits of salt that dried on her suit or from the floor where her hair drip-dried.

"What I wouldn't give for some garlic." She muttered. Still something nagged at her. She sighed and leaned back closing her eyes. Her muscles needed the rest. It was awful. Like she was tearing herself apart just to move. "Or butter." She hummed. "Or cold clean water that doesn't taste slightly of fish. Or a bed."

More time passed. She was sure that she was wasting a day but she was so damn tired. And sulfur had been elusive thus far.

"Wait…" She muttered sitting up. "That evil bastard exploded. Like a real explosion…" There could be sulfur there. It was a hell of a long shot, but seeing as she couldn't find an active volcano conveniently nearby she supposed she would have to follow any lead she had. "Isn't sulfur used in explosions? I can't remember. Anything really. Karen what is my name."

" _Current users name unknown. Unable to access passenger files. Lifepod secondary systems have been offline for approximately 60 hours."_

"Right." She muttered. "Don't need to dwell on that. I'm still me. And I'm still in terrible danger of being left behind unless I get that sulfur. Karen, you said I could make a knife?"

" _You do not currently possess the correct materials to create a survival knife."_

"Yes I do." She said walking over to her little compartment. She grabbed a roll of rubber and some titanium chunks. She moved to the fabricator and placed the items inside, instantly a new option popped in stark relief. She smiled and touched it seeing a little knife symbol.

The machine hummed to life little lazers creating the small knife. She reached out and took the knife testing its weight.

" _Weapons were removed from lifepod fabricators following the massacre on Obraxis Prime. The knife remains the only exception_." Karen told her.

"That's good to know." She said swinging it experimentally a few times. "At least I have a little protection. Karen, is there anyway for me to carry this without having to hold it all the time?"

" _Please wait."_ She felt the suit begin the slight buzzing it does as it reforms. There was a few minutes of the tingling sensation a good bit of it centered on her right hip. " _Sheathe created."_

Sure enough there was a small holster that fit the survival knife. She experimented with it moving about and making sure it didn't stab her but it was perfect. It even drew easily.

"You're an outstanding system, Karen."

" _Would you like to rate the Alterra settler suit?"_

The woman laughed. "Sure." She said as she climbed up. Her legs felt like jelly and her arms were creaky as she made her way up. The recent wounds also ached the smallest bit not fully done healing.

" _How would you rate the Alterra settler suit on a scale from one to five stars?"_

"For you, Karen, Five stars." She said before splashing into the water.

" _Thank you for your participation. Uploading data to Alterra's Mainframe Network."_ There was a pause. " _Unable to connect to Alterra's Mainframe Network. Data stored in local memory until connection can be made."_

Laughing underwater was a bad idea. Five minutes of spluttering and nose burning later and the woman showed back up to the cave. She stared it down. It felt more like a mouth now than before. She gathered her breath and dove, moving quickly as to not chicken out. She entered the part of the cave where the little fish had been, but nothing was there. Just that pod that it had exited. Curious she swam a bit closer and saw a pile of yellow stuff in it. She grabbed it and tucked the solidified gunk into her storage. She tried to pry the pod itself up, but it was stuck fast.

" _30 seconds."_

She swam as fast as she could back to the surface. "Let's see what this is." She muttered swimming back for lifepod 5. From her angle she realized that the pod actually looked like it had a face. "How could I have named Karen but not you buddy! You're Henry now!" She named him with a smile.

" _Congratulations, survivor: you have exceeded your weekly exercise quotient by 500%.  
Data indicates that swimming was your favorite activity. Be sure to vary your routine for uniform muscle development." _

It seemed that laughing in water was still a bad idea. Henry was waiting with his usual dim lighting and the constant sparking from whatever damage he had suffered from entering the atmosphere and crash landing in an alien ocean.

The woman crossed her fingers and placed the yellow mass into the fabricator, but no options popped up. Frustrated she went and grabbed some titanium and the silicone rubber just to be sure. Immediately a new option popped up.

The repair tool. She whooped with joy doing a little jump that just made her ache all the more. She pressed the button and waited. The repair tool was a bit smaller than she expected, but it was easy to hold. She moved to the broken part of the pod and pressed the tip to the exposed wires and metal. She pulled the trigger and watched as the smartmetal came to life. Her hands buzzed so furiously she was sure that she would lose feeling in them. The pod slowly repaired itself.

" _Lifepod secondary systems online. Running full environment diagnostic and outputting results to databank."_ Karen said suddenly. The woman grinned and moved over to fix the radio as well. That one took less time.

" **Radio Online: Greetings survivor I am your emergency radio transponder. Broadcasting emergency distress signal."**

"Oh," the woman smiled at the new more robotic voice. "Good, you do that."

" _The Aurora suffered orbital hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected."_

The woman froze. "What?"

" _The Aurora suffered orbital hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected."_

"What do you mean zero human….of course there are people over there!" The woman suddenly felt desperate. "There have to be!" She scrambled up and onto the top of Henry. There sat the Aurora, burning as it had been since she had woken up. She stared across the water at it watching the smoke and flames.

"Fuck!" The woman stared in dismay. All of the walls she had unknowingly built around herself crumbled to dust. Walls made of promises to sleep in a real bed when they came for her. Eat better when they came for her. Sleep for three days when they came for her. She never once doubted the crew's ability to reach her. To find her. She just had to get Henry up and running.

It was all a lie she had told herself. Why else hadn't she seen rescue boats circling the crash site. The storm that had been brewing in her chest finally broke open. She finally realized what she had been looking for and failing to see.

Human life.

"Everyone." She mumbled staring dumbly at the wreckage. "Everyone in there."

" _Air scrubbers initiated."_ The woman jerked slightly realizing that she had simply stopped being there. She wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the wreckage but night was falling and her joints protested the movement as she pulled herself back into the pod. The lighting systems had finally fully activated making the inside warm and glowing. The air didn't smell constantly of smoke, though the woman was sure that her hair still did. She reached out and grabbed one of her drinks taking another sip. A flat green screen caught her attention near the front of the pod.

Status: OK

"Well that's something." She muttered moving to stand in front of the screen.

Outgoing radio communication: Offline

Incoming radio communication: Online

Flotation devices: Deployed

Hull integrity: OK

Environment:

-Uncharted ocean planet 4546B

-Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere

-Waterborne bacteria levels: High

"Okay." She muttered. "Karen, do you have my personal files?"

" _Yes, personnel files acquired."_

"Who am I?"

" _Passenger designation 00179FU, Benningfield Andromedae, Casual name: Dae. Occupation: Animal Specialist."_

"Dae." She muttered. "Andromedae. That's right." The memories felt close to the surface yet still hazy in her mind. She wondered just how bad of a blow she took to the head. Dae had avoided thinking all too much about herself keeping focused on the task at hand hoping that her memory would just start to work again. At least she knew her name and a few other important details. "Okay, what do I do?"

" _Radio receiving transmission. Should I play it?"_

"Yes of course!" Hope bloomed for a moment in Dae's chest. 

" **This is Aurora. Distress signal received. Rescue operation will be dispatched to your location in 9...9...9...9...9... hours.** " Dae immediately sat down pushing her face into her hands. " **Continue to monitor for emergency transmissions from other lifepods.** "

"That's right," she muttered not moving from her position, "there are other pods. There could still be other people." Dae sighed and stretched trying to push away the dark feelings that were threatening to overwhelm her. "Even if the Aurora is broken, once we group together we can work on contacting Alterra. I just have to wait."


	4. Self-Scan

Boredom was dangerous but unavoidable for Dae. She sat waiting for something to happen, someone to contact her. She hardly left for food or water. Her mind began to wander. She ran out of witty comments to Karen's usual quips about monitoring her health. She toyed with the fabricator flipping through the different pre-downloaded blueprints looking for anything interesting. She swam ignoring the unpleasant feeling of her hair constantly crusted with salt and tangled beyond all belief.

More days passed and the radio stayed infuriatingly silent. She had to do _something_ to distract herself. Dae could feel herself withering away. Each silent moment prickling at her senses and tearing at the seams of her sanity. She had stopped talking to Karen. Stopped talking to herself.

Dae pushed herself out of Henry squinting at the natural light. It took her a minute but she sighed and plopped herself without fanfare into the teeming waters below. The animals swirled around her brushing against her curiously, not knowing to fear the small human. She swam about and after a minute or two of looking she swam closer to one of the mushrooms that dotted the seabed. She tugged a few up turning them this way and that. She knew they glowed at night, but so did literally everything else on this planet.

She lightly touched the ripe feeling flesh of the plant. Dae grabbed a few more and swam back to the pod.

"Well," she began but immediately had to clear her throat as her voice had become slightly rusty. "Well, I don't mind mushrooms. Just gotta know they're not poisonous." She mumbled putting a mushroom underneath the Fabricator's scanners. There was a moment of silence but no edible options popped up.

"Karen, pull up the information for this species of flora."

" _This particular species of flora has exceptional acidic properties."_ She froze looking at the little mushroom. It was acidic somehow. " _Consummation is ill advised."_

"Oh, well that's just great." She mumbled grumpily. "Karen, rename flora species."

" _System ready."_

"Acid Mushroom."

" _Confirmed."_

With the mushrooms not showing any promise for a more varied diet Dae swam around outside in the increasingly familiar terrain. She ducked into a few caves that were closer to the large patches of seaweed. And quickly learned to listen for the strange garbled sound that the evil exploding fish made. If she made a mad dash away from them they usually exploded harmlessly behind her leaving the cave safe. She grabbed more sulfur. Cornered a few fish in the close quarters so that she would have food. She even started using the hilt of her knife to crack open the little deposits she found on the side.

Dae grunted with the effort of swinging hard enough to crack rock underwater, but this time when the thin shell of what she guessed was limestone cracked away a different colored metal began its gentle fall to the seafloor. Dae confused reached out and caught it in her hands. The moment her gloves made contact with the metal Karen was talking.

" _Copper is an essential component of all powered equipment. Your probability of survival has just increased to: unlikely, but plausible."_

She swam herself to the surface taking a few deep breaths. Already after days on this planet she was more at home in the water. It was becoming routine to feel the tightness in her chest. The slight burn of her lungs. Even her movements had begun to become more efficient.

Unlike her improving body, Dae's mind was a maelstrom of guilt, fear, and doubt. No one had come for her yet. It didn't seem like anyone was going to be coming either. The wreckage burned on, night after night, like some great rotting corpse. An unmistakable reminder of what had occurred.

She avoided looking at it when she could. She kept her gaze on Henry moving with long strokes back to her safe haven. Once inside she placed the copper into the fabricator along with a mushroom and was mildly surprised to see an option pop into focus.

"A battery…" She muttered to herself reaching out to click the option. "Didn't a scanner need a battery?"

" _Correct._ "

"What else did it need?"

The lasers did their little dance shaping a battery quickly and efficiently. " _Required materials: a battery and titanium."_

"I have that." Dae moved to her little cubby pulling out a sizable chunk of titanium to bring back to the fabricator. As soon as she put the battery and the titanium inside the newest option popped up. She pressed the button and watched the machine whir back to life doing it's complex dance to craft a sleek looking handheld device. It almost looked like a gun, but where the barrel would have been a long stretch of shimmering blue material swept down to meet at the bottom of the handle.

" _The scanner can be used to synthesize blueprints from salvaged technology, and to record alien biological data."_ Karen explained.

Dae twisted the device this way and that watching the diffuse light shimmer over the white and blue. She tilted the device toward herself and squeezed slightly. The handhold depressed the smallest amount and blue light suddenly sprang out dancing over her suit and exposed skin. Thousands of little blue lines mapping out her whole body.

It shut off just as data scrolled in front of her eyes. She scanned through the data but the numbers made her head swim.

"Karen, what does that mean?"

" _Detecting trace amounts of foreign bacteria. Continue to monitor."_

"I mean, we are on an alien planet. I'd be surprised that there weren't bacteria that you haven't catalogued." Her voice sounded very tiny to her own ears. It had never occurred to her that there might be something that could bypass her immune system. It would be too easy to do in an alien world. Her stomach knotted at the thought.

Dae decided to go out and scan things seeing as she had nothing better to do. She swam in wider and wider circles ignoring the fatigue that began to settle into her limbs. It was a surprise when she found a large hunk of metal resting on the sand. She swam to it looking around when she saw a crate. Dae easily maneuvered herself in front of it to see a scrap of what looked like it used to be some technology sheared in half. She guessed it was damaged when this piece of the Aurora hit the water. She held out the scanner which sprung to life in her hands. After a moment it shut itself off and she saw a little notification appear on the edge of her hud.

Seaglide Fragment. Something tickled the back of her mind like a long forgotten dream. Distantly she remembered male laughter, hands guiding her own onto bulky controls, the feeling of being ripped forward water parting around her. The thrill. A warm hand on her back as she stood.

 _I won't be near the water, why do I need to learn any of this. I'll be supervising and training._ Her own voice echoing back to her.

 _It's required._ There was such warmth in that voice. _You have-_

" _Thirty Seconds."_ Karen quipped ripping away the slow forming scene. Dae gasped and watched as her remaining air floated away from her.

" _Oxygen."_ She wasn't sure but Karen sounded worried. She immediately kicked for the surface. Her lungs felt like fire and the intensity was only growing as she pushed herself higher. Breaking through the water was heaven. She breathed deeply ignoring the pervading taste of brine as water streamed across her mouth. In the distance there was a thunderous crack. Dae followed the sound to look at the Aurora.

" _Detecting increased local radiation levels."_ Karen reported in that dispassionate voice. " _Trend is consistent with damage to the Aurora's drive core, sustained during planetfall."_

"That's ominous." Dae commented watching the fire flicker in the distance. "Okay, there's nothing I can do about that right now." She told herself quietly. "But maybe I should try to gather resources to make my stay here better…" She bit her lip feeling the dried skin split underneath the pressure. "Shit." She hissed tasting the blood. It already burned from the salt. "Maybe I can use some lubricant as chap stick." She muttered before taking a bigger breath dipping beneath the wind-whipped waves. After some wandering around the ruins Dae finally found a familiar hunk of twisted metal. A quick scan and she had the blueprint for the seaglide.

After a quick hunt for a meal she went back to Henry.

"Well…" She spoke to the pod itself as her meal was being deboned and cooked. "I haven't heard anything from the outside world, but maybe their pods were just as damaged as mine. Maybe if I explore further than my Safe Shallows I can find something important. There's always the kelp forest." Dae considered. "Or the Red Grass. But if I'm going to do that I need to be able to get around faster."

Dinner that night was the same as the other nights, but the fish themselves seemed just a bit more flavorful. Dae wasn't sure if she simply caught better fish, or if the planning had lifted her spirits. Either way she went over the various blueprints already loaded on her fabricator until she was too tired to read.

Karen noting the deepening breathing patterns and the beginning of her sleep cycle dimmed Henry's lights. Dae was rocked to sleep by an alien tide where she dreamed of large and glowing eyes curiously looking in on her.


	5. Listening to Waves

Muscles screaming Dae pushed herself faster through the water. Behind her, not far from her new flippers, she heard the distinct clack of teeth. Just when she had started to get the hang of being in a water world it threw something with teeth at her.

The Kelp Forest was much deeper than Dae had realized. Deep enough that she scoured the fabricator for any way to move faster. The Seaglide, while useful, required things that Dae had not been able to find in the Shallows. Flippers, however, were useful and didn't take much scavenging. Neither did air tanks.

She ripped a breath through her teeth darting through a few clustered together kelp strands hoping to break the fish's line of sight.

Air tanks were interesting when added to her suit. The nanothread buzzed and wrapped around the tank until it sat firmly between her shoulder blades. The first time she jumped into the water she had been surprised to have her suit create an entire mask around her head filling it with air. It hardly felt there, she couldn't really see the material but could feel it as she tapped on the strange hard material. She could breathe normally with the mask on. No claustrophobia. No fog.

It was a good thing the suit regulated itself so well because she felt her body break out into a cold sweat as those teeth clacked behind her again. Further away, but not much. Her left leg was burning with much more than exertion. Stupid fish snuck up on her. It's long body and aggressive movements were enough to have her steer clear of them while exploring the depths.

That didn't save her when one got behind her and attacked her leg. Just when she thought they were kind of cute playing keep away with small hunks of metal. The suit had sealed itself over the injury expelling the water it had let in, but that wasn't the biggest issue she was facing right now.

She was weighed down a bit with the gold and silver she had spent the day finding.

" _Silver based computer chips are an essential component of the habitat builder."_ Karen had told her.

Dae rocketed up and over the edge back into the Safe Shallows, but the monster behind her didn't pause its pursuit. She skimmed the sand knocking it up slightly as she kicked harder. It made a small frustrated sounding noise and she ducked through one of the large coral tubes ignoring the sharp pain as she knocked her shoulder into the side of the natural formation. She hissed in pain, the sound amplified in her new mask. She moved on and was pleased with herself when she realized the sand she had kicked up had made the beast lose sight of her for a moment. She pulled herself into Henry trying to ignore the angry hissing and shrieking that was quickly receding back into the distance.

"Karen temporarily disable suit repair." She huffed as the mask peeled away from her face.

" _Suit repair disabled._ "

She sighed and popped the med-kit fabricator open grabbing the small package out. She went to her chair and sat heavily, pulling out her knife to carefully cut open the section of suit that had repaired around the repair.

It looked like a worse version of a dog bite, Dae noted distantly.

"Evil fish." She grumbled ripping the cap off of the spray can. Dae bit her lip staring at the blood sluggishly leaking out of the deep bite marks. Her eyes burned slightly as she stared. She wasn't sure why but she suddenly felt heavy. Dae took a steadying breath before spraying each gash. Her leg lit up like it had become molten and she panted with the effort it took not to scream. She squeezed some of the stim serum in each making sure to coat it fully before she leaned back closing her eyes.

"Karen, enable suit repair."

" _Suit repair enabled. Tissue damage detected."_

There was a soft beep from the surrounding machinery but Dae tuned it out that heavy feeling thickening into something stifling.

"I'm scared." She confessed to the pod. To anything that would listen. The beep answered her and she felt the tidal wave that she had been holding back, the rising storm in her body, break out of her violently. Dae sobbed curling into herself on the unforgiving chair. "I'm going to die here." She whispered the cold hard truth of it washing over her. Beep. "There's no one coming for me. I'm going to die without even remembering why I'm here to begin with!" Her voice raised until the sound was gutterally wrenching from her throat burning and damaging as it went. Beep. "Will you shut up?" She hissed turning toward the sound only to feel her body lock up on itself.

The radio which had sat silent and dead since the moment she had fixed it was slowly blinking its singular red light. Like some great and sleepy eye patiently waiting for her to take notice. The soft beep sounded again and she threw herself forward yelping as she came down hard on her healing leg. She brushed past the ladder and reached out to press the button.

" _Playing pre-recorded distress call."_ The radio said in its pinched and robotic voice. "This is Ozzy from the cafeteria." A male and very human voice called out. Dae felt every hair stand on end at the sound of his voice. "What the hell guys? They didn't warn us that this might happen!" He sounded as distressed as Dae herself had been. Something in her chest burst at the sound of him. How genuinely scared and worried he sounded. Her stomach flipped over itself. "Our pod was crushed by the seamoth bay on the way down, now we're hanging by the edge of a cave system and this grim-looking snake-thing's trying to eat through the hull. Come get us already!"

"You're alive!" She gasped.

" _Uploading lifepod coordinates."_ Karen rattled off. There was a moment pause and then a small flicker over her eyes. Dae slowly spun and laughed when she realized Karen had placed a visual marker on her HUD. It was a soft blue which stood out starkly against the white of Henry's walls.

"I have to go!" She gasped but immediately stopped herself. "I can't just rush out. That's stupid. I'll get myself killed." Dae took a deep breath steadying herself. "Okay, I'm going to make some water to take with me. Eat before I go. And make the seaglide. That should get me there faster. I think I have all the materials."

By the time Dae had finished hunting for food and water and gathered what materials she needed for the seaglide her leg was aching a little less. She dropped into the water and glanced in the direction of the ever steady point of light that was the beacon Karen had set. She automatically pointed the seaglide out in front of her.

" _The seaglide will increase your effective exploration range. For your safety please pack food and water for long journeys, and stay within 5 kilometers of the nearest lifepod or habitat."_ Karen gently lectured as Dae speared through the water. Just like the quasi memory she could feel the water parting around her as if she had found a slipstream. She tried her best to ignore the prickle of unease as she left the Safe Shallows. This would be the furthest that she had gone. She passed that unseen barrier quickly and found herself glancing around making sure that there were no creatures going after her. Hope bloomed in her chest as she traveled further Ozzy's words ringing in her ears.

"I won't be alone long Karen." She muttered keeping her eyes on the steady dot.


	6. Ozzy

There was much more red grass than Dae had expected. It also slowly and gently sloped deeper than she would have imagined. She bit her lip feeling the familiar burst of pain and taste of copper.

"I should have healed that back at the pod." She muttered to herself. A faint sound reached her and she froze as something larger than her kicked up dust. "What is that?" She muttered seeing a large thrashing animal with what looked to be dark hued natural armor. Even from her position about 10 meters from the surface she could see the wine-dark maw and the teeth on the creature.

"Is that like the big worm that attacked you, Ozzy?" She muttered touching her knife reflexively. The little creep who took a chunk out of her leg looked tame compared to the monster down there. Dae took a breath to steady herself watching as yellow blood drifted around the fish it had eviscerated in one strong snap. By the time the blood hit the seafloor the thing was slamming itself back into the sand. It buried itself easily and began a slow and unhurried trek across the ground. One singular fin sticking out of the sand like some type of shark. "Don't go near the Sand Sharks." She muttered to herself as she continued toward the marker on her hud.

Dae felt her stomach drop. The marker should be right there, but when she looked up there was no lifepod. Nothing but water at the surface. Her suit immediately began refilling the oxygen tank pulling air from every part of her that was exposed to the surface. It only took a few seconds before the green meter in the corner of her vision rapidly jumped until it was full. Dae shifted her grip on the seaglide and ducked back beneath the water.

There, small and feeble looking against the sand, was a drowned pod. She quickly moved down to it ignoring the steady pressure building against her skin and the panic jangling against her nerves. It was the deepest she had been, even in the kelp forest, but she hardly noticed that fact as she reached the lifepod. A large red 17 was printed on the side and just to the left of the number was a gaping hole. Dae felt her stomach drop far beyond her to settle on the sandy floor.

"No." She muttered whipping the seaglide around to her back. The suit quickly attached it settling it over the air tank. With her hands free she moved toward the hole lightly gripping some of the shredded metal so that she could maneuver herself inside. There were teeth marks near the edges of the puncture wound. She could see where the creature had ripped into the pod. A sob ripped out of her burning its way into her soul. There glowing softly in the wreckage of the ruined lifepod was a PDA. Dae swallowed her screams and ducked inside careful not to cut herself on the rent metal. She grabbed the little glowing screen before pushing out of the cramped space. There was no sign of Ozzy, but she could guess what happened to him.

"This entire planet is evil!" She hissed the foreign PDA shaking in her hands. She began a slow ascent kicking her way up toward the surface to replenish her oxygen supply.

" _New PDA acquired."_ Karen rattled off. The screen suddenly went blank flickering off.

"Ozzy's log." His voice was suddenly there in her head. As if he were speaking directly to her. "It's the day of the crash. I don't know what the heck is happening. I'm scared and I'm not going outside." Dae shivered knowing that she was now hearing what seemed to be a dead man's voice. "There are shadows in the water under the hatch but I can't tell if they're rocks, or aliens, and there's weird looking caves nearby." She could hear the terror there. Dae knew how it felt. She hardly noticed when her head surfaced the suit and her air tank making soft sounds as they went to work.

"The Aurora was carrying everything needed to build the phasegate: mobile vehicle bays, bioreactors, propulsion cannons... It had a cinema. There-there was a zero-G gym. My cafe. I don't understand how we're here now. I don't know why no one's coming for me." Dae quietly swam listening to his voice. Understanding the frustration.

Alone again. The heartless water planet taking away yet another life. Tearing at what little shreds of sanity she had been clinging to. If what the PDA said was true then Ozzy had been dead for days. It simply took that long her radio to pick up the distress call. Hope faltering Dae simply floated for a long moment, eyes closed, thinking that if she stopped moving that whatever took out Ozzy would come for her too. All she had to do was stop kicking.

Her legs slowed and she felt the water begin to rise around her. Dae kept her eyes closed.

Light bloomed against the deep red of her backlit eyelids. Every color imaginable swirling and dancing in complex patterns. Dae's eyes shot open and she immediately kicked to stop her slow descent toward the sands. The light was still there dancing against the small currents and waves. Slowly before her four eyes formed along with a shadowy body that wasn't like anything she had ever seen before.

"Karen is there a malfunction in my entertainment chip?" She asked quickly meeting the now blazing cyan eyes.

" _Running diagnostic."_ A soft whirring sound buzzed at the edges of her hearing. The figure shifted slightly as if they were swimming closer to her. The eyes getting larger and larger. Dae felt panic begin to settle in. " _Report from entertainment chip: all systems good. Integration into subjects' field of vision normal. Number of items being displayed-"_

"Stop." Dae ordered with a shaking voice. Karen fell silent just as the being stopped coming closer. Her heart hammering she slowly reached out her own hand becoming covered with the shadow. There was a strange stretching and fluttering in her mind.

"I'm going insane." Dae breathed even as she felt the presence catch onto the words holding them. More words popped into mind, none of them connecting to each other or making any sort of sense. More and more words poured through her head until Dae curled in on herself. It was too loud. Too fast. It **hurt**.

Then all at once it stopped. Dae's throat felt raw from the screaming, but she automatically began to kick once more soaring back up to get more oxygen. The great thing paused a few tentacle-like things spreading in the background.

" **What...are...you?** "

The voice was feminine sounding. Deep and wise sounding like some great motherly figure. Dae began shivering harshly her teeth clattering. There was a soft feeling of exhaustion and then the lights winked out one after another until only the ocean around her was left.

"I'm going insane." She stated slowly. "I've been alone a long time. I'm going insane." She muttered. "Don't think about it. Think about anything else." Dae ordered herself. She twisted looking down at the ruined pod and felt her throat constrict. "Not that either." She managed to choke out.

Mind floundering she felt her memory catch on something. She tried her best to ignore the corpse of a pod and glanced around. Just a little ways from the pod there was a small piece of debris that tickled at her memory.

"Didn't that transmission say the Seamoth Bay fell on them?" She asked already moving toward the white curved metal glancing around for any moving fins. It was a curved white piece of metal with some sort of shattered glass jutting up from the edge. Dae reached to her side and grabbed her scanner holding it out and watching the blue grid of lights shift over its surface in a mesmerizing pattern. The light shut itself off and there was a small ping in her head.

" _Partial blueprint found_." Karen announced. " _Seamoth._ "

"What do you mean partial blueprint?" She asked glancing around for anything else.

" _The item you scanned is missing components. Unable to reconstruct blueprint until data set is fully restored._ "

Dae put her hand on the edge of the smooth curve. She closed her eyes and for a moment tensed up remembering the shifting colors. When nothing happened she relaxed the smallest degree.

"The seamoth. That rings a bell at least a little. It's a little sub right?" Dae opened her eyes and pushed away from the wreckage soaring up toward the surface once more. "Maybe," she said as she broke surface, "the rest of the wreck is somewhere near here. Ozzy couldn't have been the only survivor." Dae was deluding herself. There was only so much she could do without any hope. She needed companionship. Even more so she needed a _ship_. "If I could make a seamoth I could get to other people a lot faster." She ducked back beneath the water looking down at the uneven and jagged patches of red covering the sand. She quickly found a shark heading unhurriedly toward the remains of the pod. There were a few more pieces of metal shining in the sand further away from the seamoth remains. Interested Dae began a slow trek following the scrap metal like breadcrumbs through a dark forest.


	7. Planning Phase

It seemed that a good chunk of the seamoth bay did in fact get ripped off of the Aurora during planetfall. Dae quickly found and scanned a few crushed seamoths until Karen helpfully chimed in that she had acquired the new blueprint. The hunk of ship seemed rather peaceful among the slowly swaying tufts of red grass. The light was starting to fade so she quickly twisted until she could see the small marker for Henry illuminated against the ever-growing darkness.

Tears threatening to fall Dae quietly pulled the seaglide off her back and aimed back toward home making sure to tilt up so that she could gather some air as she headed out. It seemed longer than before. Within the darkness Dae could easily see the bioluminescent flora and fauna shifting in dizzying patterns like beacons suspended in ink. The water itself seemed colder.

Kelp brushed along her body as she moved above the forest. Deep below her there was the sharp clack of teeth. The shriek of metal being bitten into. A glance down showed nothing but the eerie yellow glow of the seed pods.

Hard to find and highly aggressive, Dae thought moving a bit faster. Stalkers amid the kelp just waiting for her guard to be lowered. It didn't take long before she was hauling herself and her gear up through the underhatch into Henry. Defeat lay heavy in her limbs making each movement harder and harder to perform.

"Karen, how am I supposed to build the seamoth? I can't very well build it in here." Dae muttered glancing around the ever-smaller space in Henry.

" _You will need to use the mobile vehicle bay in order to create the seamoth."_ Karen's voice was so flat. The more Dae heard it the more she hated how flat it was. So inhuman.

"How do I make the mobile vehicle bay?"

" _Blueprint unavailable."_

"Of course." Dae snapped curling onto her side. She was tired of laying on metal to sleep. Tired of her body being a constant ache. Tired of having to swim everywhere just to be met with more and more failure. "This whole thing is impossible." She curled into herself, becoming very small on the floor of the escape pod. It took a long time for sleep to come.

Time stretched. Warped. Dae forced herself out of the pod hunting for food. At first she refused to move away from the safe shallows. There were plenty of fish. It was easy to live there nothing really attempting to attack her as she moved around. The stalkers usually stuck to their kelp forests, only wandering closer a few times as they chased after their own fish. A few days of sticking to the shallows and she quickly grew bored. What felt immense and scary not too long ago was now commonplace and small.

The kelp forest was deeper and more dangerous. But Dae knew that she was going to go stir crazy floating around in the safe shallows for too long. The kelp forests were deep and had more to offer than the safe shallows, and so Dae ventured further.

It was near the end of her day when she spotted the uniform shape among the twisting and shifting shapes that made this world. It was too perfect. Too pretty. Dae easily moved to it and ran her fingers over what was clearly a small crate from the Aurora. For braving planetfall it was relatively intact which was impressive to her. She glanced inside and was even more impressed to see a small hunk of something twisted inside. She plucked her scanner off her side and gave it a quick scan.

" _Partial Blueprint Scanned: Mobile Vehicle Bay_."

"What?" Dae stared at the little hunk of metal. "If this landed here then….maybe there are others nearby." She mumbled to herself twisting around looking for another crate. No such luck from her vantage point. There was a sudden growl and Dae hardly had enough time to push sideways before a Stalker slammed into the sand where she had been standing.

By the time she recovered herself the thing was already moving back toward her its long teeth-filled maw open for another attack. Dae grabbed a hold of her knife and pushed to the side just enough that the teeth missed her by inches. As the creature slid by she slashed out with her knife and was secretly pleased when a large puff of green-yellow fluid curled around her. The creature screeched and darted off leaving a slightly bewildered Dae behind. She glanced to the knife in her hand gleaming silver in the dim light.

"Yeah!" She hissed after it, breathing heavily. "You're not the only one with teeth." The Stalker had slowed back down among the kelp but seemed to be watching her from afar, not willing to come any closer. "Huh," Dae muttered to herself twisting her blade thoughtfully this way and that. If the Stalkers balked at signs of counter-aggression then she supposed it would be a good idea to keep her knife out in case one decided to attack.

Dae spent a good portion of the day dipping deeper and deeper into the kelp forest gathering supplies and keeping an eye out for boxes. There were a few the contained laser cutters, but not enough yet to create a full blueprint.

Tired, Dae finally began swimming back toward Henry already having caught a few fish that were just begging for the fabricator. She swept herself up along the sandy cliffs that decorated the edges of the kelp forest when she noticed a half buried crate on one of the little shelves that sat on the edge of the cliffs. Warily she swam closer. There was something there, but it too was buried underneath the sand. Dae sighed to herself and pulled out the scanner hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't have to dig the object out from under the sand in order to scan it properly. The little machine sprang to life in her hands the blue lines dancing in their pattern in a hypnotic display. With so little energy left Dae made a mental note not to scan too many things just in case she killed herself by falling asleep underwater.

" _New Blueprint Acquired: Mobile Vehicle Bay."_ Karen's voice signaled the sudden stop of the blue light. Dae froze for a moment not sure exactly what to think, but something like excitement stirred lazily in her chest. She found herself smiling and kicking back toward Henry a little faster than before.


	8. Craft Crafting

The fabricator quietly hummed behind Dae, the lasers working tirelessly to create the mobile vehicle bay. Dae herself was carefully squeezing out the last dregs of the nanocream that she had used for her leg. Once she had enough she winced smearing the now stinging cream onto her cracked lips. It felt like fire for a moment and Dae sucked in a breath as if it could kill the heat. Of course it didn't and she instantly felt stupid.

Distracting herself she turned to see the fabricator finish the mobile vehicle bay which looked a bit bigger than the seaglide that was currently sitting in her chair. Pulling the machine into her arms she hissed at the weight of it her already abused body complaining. She sat it to the side breathing heavily for a second.

"Okay, ouch okay no talking hurts," Dae pressed her burning lips together and shut her eyes for a moment. "All I have to do is deploy this outside."

" _Caution,"_ Karen's voice suddenly bloomed into existence. Dae jumped slightly realizing last second that she hadn't actually spoken to Karen the entire day. " _Continued degradation of the Aurora's drive core may result in a quantum detonation. Continuing to monitor."_

"Oh yeah?" She muttered quickly moving to the ladder. Once on top of Henry she looked toward the Aurora. If anything the fires looked brighter as if they had found some new source of fuel. "A quantum detonation?" That was dangerous. Horribly so, she knew, and yet some part of her felt detached from it all. The sea air was nice though, as was the sun which warmed her normally cold body. Dae laid herself out on the top of Henry closing her eyes and letting the alien sun warm her. Eventually her lips stopped burning, then they stopped buzzing at all. She wiped at the cream seeing it come away a dark pink. Grossed out she took care to wipe away the rest of it feeling unbroken and soft skin underneath.

"Seamoth." She reminded herself cracking Henry back open so that she could clammer down into his interior. Once again the heft of the mobile vehicle bay made her already exhausted muscles scream, but she ignored it and dropped herself out of the bottom hatch. Almost immediately little cushions inflated partially suddenly negating the weight of the machine. Dae grinned and was happy to feel no pain to do so. She moved a little ways away from Henry, closer to the kelp forest before she held the machine out and clicked the little button on the side.

Instantly it ripped out of her hands as it rocketed to the surface unfolding as it did so. Dae followed it cautiously and hauled herself up onto the bobbing platform that it had created. Little drones quickly detached as she settled herself as comfortably as she could with the whole thing shifting and swaying with the waves. A screen came to life and showed what had to be the seamoth. The list of ingredients spanned out when she pressed the little button.

"That's actually not too hard to do." She muttered already sliding back into the water. It was too easy to glide back toward Henry. She hadn't been on the water planet all that long and yet 4546B had begun to affect her. If she could have seen herself when she first splashed down into the shallows she would have laughed at the uncoordinated flailing she had considered swimming.

Pulling herself through Henry's bottom hatch she frowned as a new thought came to her head. Just how much would she laugh at her current effort if she stayed here for much longer? How long would she be here?

Shaking the thoughts away as if they were water stuck in her ears she glanced at the fabricator quickly navigating to see what materials she needed to make the seamoth. It was time to go scrap metal hunting. If there was any bonus to the ship crashing, it was that it had shed metal like so many scales as it slammed through the atmosphere. Of course that also meant that she had to haul metal all day. Dae sighed and gathered up a small makeshift rope she had created out of the creepy yellow vines that the stalkers loved so much.

"Stalkers roaming through creep vines." She muttered to herself as she splashed back into the water. "Karen, rename alien kelp species to: Creep Vine."

" _Confirmed_."

It wasn't long before she had found a large piece of metal which she quickly strapped to her back. It was a good way to keep her arms free just in case a stalker decided to pick a fight. None did, thankfully.

Over and over she hauled metal on her back letting the fabricator break it down. Eventually she had gathered enough to create an ingot of the titanium. Dae tried hefting the metal and found herself straining to move it too far. It was a relief to shove it into Henry's onboard storage, though if she were being honest with herself Dae realized that there was less and less room the longer she lived here. Dae slowly spun in place, looking at the random bits and objects she had balanced on various surfaces.

"Karen, does it feel cramped in here to you?" Even her voice felt a bit too close. "Too small to be a home?"

" _The lifepod is not considered proper housing."_

"Right," Dae muttered slipping outside and letting the vastness of the ocean both soothe and terrify. "What can I do about it?"

" _I do not understand your question. Please rephrase."_

Dae found herself swimming to the large coral tubes that littered the edges of the safe shallows, she knew that she had seen multiple clusters of crystal in some of the larger ones. But with enclosed spaces also came the threat of the exploding fish, Crash Fish as she had named them.

"Is there a tool that can help me have more room?"

" _Room building is a function of the habitat builder tool."_ Karen answered faithfully. Dae edged into the mouth of one of those tubes and breathed out a sigh of relief. None of the little pods were lining the walls nearby, so it seemed safe enough to use her knife to pry the crystal free. She would need a good bit of them in order to make the glass needed.

"I don't know if I should use the habitat builder." Dae bit her lip slightly, the feeling sharp but not quite painful. It helped center her mind. Karen remained silent but she imagined her robotic voice twisting slightly becoming warm and concerned. Asking why. "Because," Dae tried not to think about what she was doing, "if I make a habitat it feels like I'm conceding that I'm going to be here for a while."

"On the other hand, it seems like I'm in a pretty safe place, or at least as safe as it can be." The rhythmic motion of trying to pry the quartz away from the wall gave Dae the space to think. Lulling her. Each satisfying pop as the rock finally came away intact, the dance of her hands as she used her rope to knot around the rock. "The other passengers might be grateful for the space." _If I find them_ , the thought was harshly shoved out of mind. "Having two people in Henry as he is will be hard to deal with."

It took several trips for air, but eventually Dae had a strange sash tied around her body that was absolutely packed with crystal. It didn't take her long to get back to Henry, who felt just as small as before. Dae sat on the hatch freeing the crystal which she then fed into the fabricator.

A soft beep rocked through her body. The radio slowly and softly flashed it's red light. Another message. Dae nearly tripped over herself rushing over to press the button.

" _Playing pre-recorded distress call…"_ The electronic voice buzzed.

" _This is Officer Keen in Lifepod 19!"_ Dae felt her breath catch in her throat at the commanding tone. It was a man, and from the sound of it he was distressed. _"The captain is gone. I have assumed command. The last thing the captain did was give me co-ordinates for dry land. We regroup one and a half kilometers south-west of the crash site."_ Dae wrapped her arms around her middle knowing that she needed something akin to human contact.

" _Stay together. Good luck. This message will now repeat."_

The silence felt leaden. Crushing her underneath the weight of another human calling out to her from this deadly water planet. Dae couldn't remember anyone named Keen, but then again she could hardly remember anything. She wondered just how hard that metal covering had slammed into her.

" _Rendezvous co-ordinates corrupted. Transmission origin co-ordinates downloaded."_ Dae jerked, yelping a bit as Karen's voice echoed in the pod.

"Did….he say there was dry land?"

" _Affirmative."_

" _That's not….possible." Dae quickly scrambled up the ladder pulling herself up and on top of Henry. Dae let herself scan the horizon, which was quickly trying to slip into night. There was nothing but the Aurora. "I don't see land."_

" _Rendevous co-ordinates corrupted."_ Karen rattled off again. As if that made it better.

" _But you got where it first broadcasted from…" The massive moon, red and terrifying hung bloated and sickly in the sky. Slowly shifting across the horizon._

" _Affermative._ "

"Dry land.." Dae laid back exhaustion claiming her body. The wind tasted of salt. "They found dry land. All I've got to do is track them." One of the alien birds fluttered overhead it's body a mere spot of black against the glow of the moon. "I've never tracked anything that I can remember, but it can't be that hard…."

Her own voice was doubting her. The waves gently lapping against the side of Henry laughed at her ineptitude. Mocked her obviously forced confidence. As if the entirety of the planet knew that she was just putting on a brave face until one of her outings left her like Ozzy.

"I still need the seamoth. Tomorrow...I'll finish it tomorrow and find them. I'll find everyone." Dae muttered. The water underneath her was lit with neon hues. The flash of bioluminescent fish creating a hypnotic dance between light and dark, all the while the fires of the Aurora flickered in the distance. "Tomorrow." 


	9. Hope and Horror

Laser light flickered as the tiny drones weaved their complex dance, slowly but surely creating the seamoth before her. She had draped herself over the side railing of the mobile vehicle bay watching as her hard work unfolded before her. The seamoth, all sweeping curves, finally dropped into the water. The splash was just big enough to brush over her feet, but Dae was already moving and dropping into the water.

It had stabilized itself simply sitting in the middle of the water the lights on the inside causing a slight glow to the vehicle.

" _The Seamoth is a fast, safe mode of transport, but remember that swimming is good for your glutes and endorphin levels."_ Karen said as Dae got close enough to reach out and touch it. She bit back a sharp retort and instead swam over the hatch. For a moment she was confused, as there was no handle or button, but the moment she pressed her hand to the top it quickly folded open a strange and shimmering blue barrier sparking into being. Dae lowered herself down and felt a slight tingle as she passed through the barrier, and then she was in the seat of the little submersible suddenly dry. The hatch closed overhead the moment her weight fully settled on the seat, and the barrier flickered out.

"What was that?" She asked her voice overly loud in the small space.

" _You have entered your personal seamoth."_

"No, Karen. I mean the blue light. And why did it open when I touched it? Does it open for anything touching it?"

" _The seamoth is fitted with Alterra sealing technology. The seamoth has connected to this system providing biological information so that the sealing technology and hatch have been keyed to your dna."_

"So," she muttered putting her hands on what equated to the steering wheel and felt the cabin brighten slightly as a response. She almost didn't feel the engine as it purred to life. "How do I…" She pressed slightly forward and the craft shot forward. She yelped and dropped the controls which instantly caused the sub to coast to a stop.

It took a little while, but Dae began to get the hang of piloting the seamoth. Eventually she found herself racing it along the shallow water, twisting and diving to avoid the coral tubes that dotted the landscape. It was so fast. She let the little sub dip further down into the creep vine forest thrilled by how easy it was to dip down into the depths. A quick flick of a switch and she had light bursting forth illuminating the flash of a stalker as it darted past. A familiar shriek was the only warning she had before a different stalker crashed down onto her ship from above, only to harmlessly skid off. It didn't even leave a scratch on the enameled glass. She grinned at the fish and did a small victory dance in her chair.

"That's right, you can't even touch me in here!" She called to it. "Stupid toothy fish! Your water death planet isn't getting me today!" She paused a moment as it slid away into the green tinged water. "My insults are getting pretty weak." She muttered steering her seamoth back toward Henry. "Oh, you need a name too." She patted the steering wheel in her hands. "How about…..Seamore?"

Dae tried to ignore the fact her only speaking companions consisted of a lifepod, a PDA, and now a submersible. She nodded to herself coasting to a stop a few feet away from the bottom of Henry.

"Okay Seamore, I've got to hunt for food and water for a while. But once I'm done we can go find Officer Keen." She muttered. It took a quick press of her hand and then she was pushing herself up and out of the sub back into the water.

Hunting had become almost commonplace for Dae. It didn't take her long before she had found and cooked a multitude of fish, including making a few bottles of water from the bladder fish. It wasn't until the lazers stopped spitting out food that she heard the soft beep that signaled her radio had caught something. She was up and next to it before she knew it.

" _This is Avery Quinn, of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over."_ She felt her breath catch. " _Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up."_ Dae felt what little patience she had snap. Anger flooded her mind so much so that she heard her teeth creak with how tightly she grit them together. " _Aurora, I'm out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over. I'll try them again tomorrow. See what the long-range scans pick up in the meantime."_ Quinn seemed to be talking to someone off mic. " _Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra."_

"Assholes." She muttered darkly gathering up her food and water. Dae grabbed her seaglide for good measure and slipped back into the water. Seamore was waiting looking sleek and nice holding himself perfectly still where she had left him. She pulled herself through the blue light and got comfortable before twisting about until the little blue marker appeared on her HUD.

The safe shallows were a strange tapestry of beige sand spattered with splashes of colors and the flash of neon fish. Dae avoided the huge coral tubes that twisted and dipped through the landscape, some of them even reaching above sea level.

"I should be happy." She told Karen and Seamore softly. "Someone is coming to get all of us. But...making light of all these deaths…" She trailed off, not sure what she could say that would express the magnitude of all that had happened. The Safe Shallows tapered off into the mesas that made what she called the Red Grass. True to its name the grass swayed gently in the currents, while sand sharks lurked below lashing out at anything that moved near them. It was a strange mix of gentle beauty and terrifying danger.

"How did we end up here?" She muttered to herself running a free hand over her neck. Without warning a roaring sound pierced her sub, causing Dae to jerk Seamore to a stop. The sound was loud, but felt muffled somehow as if it were still further away. It wasn't the same as the snarls that ripped from the sand sharks. Distantly the roar sounded again, a bit louder. Goosebumps shivered over her skin at the sound.

"That's not a good sound." She muttered the most primal parts of her screaming at her to run. To go back the way she had come.

Instead she hesitantly eased Seamore forwards the gentle whine of his engines sounding strangely loud in the resulting silence of the roars.

"Everything's okay." Dae she told herself. "I'll find Officer Keen and then we can figure out what to do. I won't be alone anymore." She told herself.

One moment it was relatively quiet, the next a horrible roar was shaking her sub as a large red a white mandibled beast clamped down around Seamore.

Dae screamed looking into the beady eyes of the monster as those jaws crushed down which sent alarms reeling as small sprays of water hit her body. The beast roared, like something out of a horror vid, and she found herself freezing in place for a moment as the landscape whirled by behind the creatures head.

Dae's hands came back to life before she did harshly jerking the wheel to the side. Seamore's engines roared to life, all the while those black eyes bore into her it's inner jaw lashing at the glass. Seamore suddenly caught traction, just enough to rip the sub sideways out of the massive jaws of the creature. It made a horrible frustrated sound as it slid past, its body huge and muscled. Easily larger than anything else she had seen so far on this waterlogged planet.

Heart pounding, and water rising she quickly gunned her ship forward, heedless of where she was going so long as the sound of that creature stayed behind her.

"Please," She whispered to the universe as that horrible roar sounded way too close. "Please, please, please, don't let me die here." The words tumbled out of her mouth as Seamore's engines whined piteously, those alarms echoing the racing of her heart.

The red grass flew by, all the while the roars sounded behind her promising death in the form of crushing mandibles. She only hoped that Seamore was fast enough. The grass gave way to a landscape of sand, nearly featureless and hazy. Sand dunes rising and falling underneath her ship. Some buried instincts caused her to swerve slightly to the side as she noticed another huge muscled creature in the distance.

The world slowed. Behind her she heard another roar, and a crash that sent sand spraying over the front end of her submersible. The other form that she had swerved to avoid had twisted to look over toward them. The sand underneath her sub dipped sharply, and she followed the dip, sweeping low into what almost looked like some sort of crater site. Green light shimmered over a darkened cave opening. It looked big enough.

That was enough for Dae, who directed her speeding vehicle towards the hole. A horrible scrape sounded as she darted through the opening, her sub jerking to the side from the impact. She dropped the controls letting the sub spin itself to a stop. There was a huge thud and Dae curled in on herself tears threatening to fall as she heard the frustrated roar once more. Watched out the opening as the huge beast thrashed outside, having lost sight of its prey.

She didn't give herself time to panic, to let the horror overtake her. She simply took a deep breath and pushed out of the seamoth taking stock of the crushed exterior. Bubbles fluttered upwards to collect on the roof of the cave. She pulled out her repair tool pressing it to the metal. The device sprung to life in her hands buzzing enough to make her hands feel almost instantly numb, but the smart metal did its job and began reforming. It wasn't long before it looked good as new. She slid back inside.

" _All systems online."_ Seamore chirped to her. She twisted him around, away from the entrance clicking on his lights. The cave was a winding tunnel. Behind her she could still hear the faint sounds of the large creature.

"Not…." Dae's voice faltered and she forced back the tears that tried to escape. "Not going that way right now." She ground out. "Deeper into the cave it is."

She tilted Seamore deeper underground careful to stay away from the walls.


	10. Precursor

**Okay, quick spoiler warning for Below Zero. This chapter will contain scenes that will be a spoiler for anyone who has been playing Below Zero. Read with caution, I'll explain at the end of the chapter.**

There was an inherent sense of foreboding in the cavern as if something were watching Dae maneuver herself around each corner. It didn't help that the huge leviathan outside was still roaring it's outrage. Dae hoped that it lost interest sooner rather than later. Seamore, while still rather full in battery, did in fact have a battery. That meant sooner or later she would run out of air, an increasingly likely death on this hellhole of a planet. That alongside being ripped to bloody shreds by the residents of said planet. Maybe second to that.

" _Scans picking up unusual broadcast signals ahead."_ Karen sounded off nearly giving Dae a heart attack. _"Unable to translate currently. Running translation software."_

"What would be giving off a signal here?" Dae asked confused taking another turn. "This planet hasn't seemed to contain intelligent…" Her words slowed as she noticed green lights connected to strange blocky cables. "...life."

There was a forcefield, shimmering green, in what Dae could only assume was a doorway. She could hardly see through it to see there was a room beyond. She felt her heart fly up into her chest and she forced herself to breathe through the pinched feeling. There were only a few explanations that she could possibly think of.

"Karen, has Alterra been to this planet before?"

" _Negative, planet 4546B was categorized as unexplored when systems were last connected to the mainframe."_

"Okay...but there's a machine built into this cave system."

" _Correct."_

Dae shifted slightly staring at the shimmering green barrier. "What does that mean?"

" _Possible existence of intelligent life predating Alterra's planetfall has been recorded."_ Karen's voice made Dae feel suddenly much smaller.

"Right." She muttered rubbing her hands together. "Okay, let's go see what it is, huh Karen?" Before Dae could talk herself out of it she shoved herself outside of Seamore and into the calm waters of the cave. It was a little colder than the safe shallows, but that was to be expected. Almost immediately she noted a soft purple glowing slab that looked to be half buried by the sands. Tentatively she moved down toward it watching for any movement that could mean her death.

It was unnervingly calm. Cool, dark, and still. She reached down and pulled at the slab wondering if it was connected to the lighting system, but it slid away from the sand easier than expected. Almost light. A strange symbol decorated it, and Dae grabbed her scanner frowning at the shimmering purple surface.

After a minute of scanning she heard a little alert showing her that new data had been acquired. Dae let the purple thing rest gently back onto the sand and pulled off her PDA, clicking through until she found the new information.

It was carbon based, she read glancing to the soft purple glow every once in a while. That despite its onboard power source still working just fine, that algae growth pointed to it being abandoned hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

"Okay," Dae said moving back over to seamore to gather some more air before swimming back over to the purple tablet. "So, whoever used these they seem to be long gone. Right Karen?"

" _Scans do show indication of abandonment by the precursor race."_ Karen affirmed.

"Precursor?"

" _Precursor: noun, a person or thing that comes before another of the same kind. A forerunner."_

"I know what-" Dae sighed twisting herself to look at the green forcefield. "I know what precursor meant in that context. It just sounded like a good name to call them."

There was nothing but the sound of her own breathing, even time seemed to stand still in this cave. Dae swam over to the green forcefield, keeping her distance at first. The green light shifted hypnotically over her skin and Dae moved just a bit closer, only to yelp as a flat dark panel jerked itself open revealing a purple light. Dae glanced between the indention in the panel and the tablet still sitting on the sandy floor.

A few moments later she swam back up to the panel, which had in her absence closed itself once more, and hefted the purple tablet in her hands nervously.

"Tell me this is a bad idea and I'll go back to Henry." She told Karen quietly. Karen remained silent and she swam a bit closer until with a soft hiss of moving machinery it slid back open revealing purple light that matched the purple now in her hands. "This has to be a bad idea right?"

Dae brought the tablet closer, and yelped as it was ripped from her hands going to click perfectly into place. The green light which had been shifting through the cave much like sunlight breaking through the water simply ...faded until the forcefield was gone.

" _Alien Broadcast seems to be some sort of distress signal."_ At Karen's voice Dae yelped and shot back to Seamore slamming herself into him hard enough to bruise. Her suit hissed as it pulled back in its oxygen supply. " _Translation attempts ongoing."_

"Dont!" Dae nearly yelled putting a hand to her chest. "Don't do that you scared me!" Karen didn't seem to care enough to respond. Dae took a few moments her breathing heavy as she stared at the now open pathway. It looked too small for Seamore to enter. "Come on, this has to be a bad idea." She told Karen as she slipped back outside. The silence slid over her like a second skin, leaving her to hear her every breath, hear the thunder of her heart as she cautiously swam past the deactivated barrier.

Nothing attacked. The cave simply went on beyond her stretching further away. She pushed herself onward despite the fear sending adrenaline through her bloodstream. As she turned a small corner she nearly stopped.

It looked like a graveyard. That was the first thought as she beheld two rows of smooth grey stone, jutting up from the sand. Spotlights hung above the gravestones, only highlighting them in the gloom of the cave. There were six altogether, and they were much larger than her. Glowing green cubes that seemed to be made of a material Dae had never seen before reminded her uncannily of flowers. Stalactites hung ominously overhead like the teeth of some great beast just waiting for Dae to lower her guard.

"Karen, what is this?"

" _Translation attempts are ongoing. No information available currently."_

At the far end of the room a hologram shimmered. It….it kind of looked like a data terminal. Dae moved forward almost without thought, past the lurking gravestones and the shimmer of the green stones. She reached out and placed her hand, so small, against the data terminal. A low whine began, that only built as a guttural language spilled forth sounding like a mixture of biological and synthetic sounds. Something in the far wall moved, stone crunching as green light poured forth, running over Dae much like a scan.

"Karen what's going on?" Dae went to jerk back, but found that she couldn't move away from the green light.

" _Translation attempts are ongoing. No information available currently."_

Dae thrashed as the far wall began to bulge out, revealing a black segmented cube that seemed to be opening.

"Karen please!" She hissed trying her damndest to escape the grip of the light. Another guttural sound and Dae suddenly felt her entire body pulled, stretched as if she were being pulled taunt. Movement was impossible.

"Karen help me. Please! I don't want this!"

The light grew more intense and symbols, ones she didn't understand began to flash erratically in front of her. The world narrowed. Tears flowed down her face as a roaring filled her head.

" _T-trans-la-lation-n attem-a-attempts-sssssssss fail-fa-faillllllll-llllll-ed. ssssss-system-o-over-rid-o-vvvvvv-"_

"Please!" Her voice was hardly a whisper. The roaring grew to be too much, and she felt the world slip away. In the darkness she swore she heard a soft echo of the gutteral language, sounding almost sleepy.

" _ **Warning."**_ The voice was too loud, and Dae groaned her eyes fluttering as she realized she was now floating in the middle of the graveyard. _**"Oxygen dangerously low."**_ Dae shivered as she realized that the voice wasn't Karen. It was male and smooth. " _ **Death by suffocation imminent."**_

Dae forced herself to move, blearily through a strange haze and a pounding headache she swam herself back to Seamore. By the time she reached him her chest was burning so badly she thought she might explode.

" _ **Death by suffocation imminent."**_ Was it just Dae or did the new voice sound...panicked a little? She threw herself into Seamore and nearly cried with her first breath. Her body felt ...ravaged.

"Karen….what….happened?" Her voice was so small, and hoarse.

" _ **You seemed to have lost consciousness after activating long dormant technology."**_

"What did it do? Your voice..."

" _ **Vocal settings optimized."**_

Dae coughed feeling her body ache with it. It was quiet for a little while, though she swore she could feel her consciousness slipping in and out.

" _ **Local distress signal terminated."**_

"Was it?" She asked quietly head spinning.

" _ **Yes."**_

"I wonder, what it was saying." She mumbled to herself trying to sit up a bit further. "I shouldn't go back in there right?"

" _ **Your vital signs have been fluctuating. Food and rest recommended before further exploration."**_

"Right." Dae nodded trying to will herself to move. "I hope that thing isn't out there still." Dae spun the sub around, giving the opening one last long look before moving slowly through the cave, back toward those open sands.

" _ **Information request: What thing?"**_

Dae blinked at the sudden interruption a slight frown crossing her face at the thought of the huge beast she had just barely escaped.

"The leviathan. It had ...those scythe like mandibles." She answered after a moment. She thought on it more. "Karen, rename fauna species."

" _ **System ready."**_

"Reaper Leviathan."

" _ **Confirmed."**_

"I mean, it makes sense right?" She said feeling her heartbeat pick up upon seeing the opening to the cave. Seeing the two light sources that had alerted her to it being there, the green alien structures. One now bore deep scratches, messing up the aesthetic of its design. "It nearly killed Seamore and me, so Reaper seems appropriate." There was no roaring. No thrashing, just a quiet ocean ahead. Somehow that scared Dae more. "Plus," she said pushing the sub into an instant sprint, "its mouth was like two scythes."

" _ **Multiple leviathan class creatures are known to be in this location. Caution recommended."**_

"Yes I know." Dae muttered spearing for Henry's little dot on her HUD. In the distance she heard a roar, and she felt her body go cold at the sound. "Today has just been ...great." She muttered angrily. Thankfully, whatever luck that had kept her alive all this time seemed to hold as the trip back to Henry was uneventful. She nearly sobbed as she pulled herself into his interior.

Sleep took her before she couldn think too much about what had happened.

 **For those looking for an explanation, way back when I started this fic I had a cool idea about the precursors. If you've seen Below Zero you'll realize that the fic premise I had decided to go with, is now a large part of the plot for Below Zero. It's actually really cool to me how it all happened. I had decided on this plot before it was ever revealed. But because it's now a spoiler I have to warn everyone. So, while I have decided to pick some elements from Below Zero to make it a bit more cannon this is not the same exact idea. Just the same premise. Thanks for listening! -Moriarty**


	11. 2 Hours

Drained was a good word for how Dae felt waking up on the floor of Henry once again. Her body was in knots.

"Ow," she breathed simply laying there for a moment. The events of the past day rolled over her bringing with it hazy green tinged memories of the strange device. The flashing symbols pulsing like brands in her mind.

" _ **Caloric levels low."**_ Dae nearly screamed at the unfamiliar male voice before she remembered that Karen had changed her voice. _**"Hydration levels low."**_

"I know." She mumbled not bothering to move. How was she going to do this? Why did it have to be her? Dae wasn't very adept at surviving even here in her safe shallows. How was she supposed to face down Reapers and the other vicious creatures that were in the way of her getting to Officer Keen. The Sunbeam was coming to rescue them.

She could always just wait here till they got here. Dae immediately shook the thought out of her head. She couldn't just sit pretty while others were in danger. Yet when she tried to push herself up off of the uneven metal floor her body felt heavier than it had in a long time.

She managed to get herself into the water, but the fish were fast. They darted around her. Mocking her with flashes of color and the slight bump of fins against her body.

Eventually she managed to catch a peeper. The small success helped drive her and when she saw a blur of yellow to her right she shot out a hand, surprised at her own speed against the water's resistance. She glanced at the creature in her hands and nearly let go. It was cartoonish at best, with stalk-like eyes and a plump nearly overfilled body. It had lips, very much bigger than she had seen on other creatures here, and its red fins jutted out to the side like little oars currently wiggling frantically trying to escape her tight grip.

Dae bit back a laugh trying not to be too grossed out and swam back to Henry. The buzz of the lazers was the only sound in the little cabin for a minute or two. When she saw the cooked cartoon-like fish she bit her lip contemplating how much she really needed to eat it.

" _ **It is common for those accustomed to synthetic foods to be repulsed by eating an animal carcass. Remember that humans survived this way for millennia. You can too."**_ Karen rattled off helpfully.

"I was going to eat it." She muttered reaching out and touching its slightly slimy texture. Dae simply closed her eyes and took a bite. It was mild tasting at best but, it was rather large and filling despite the lackluster taste and abysmal texture. However, Dae couldn't bring herself to gnaw on the fins or eat those dopey looking eyes, so she instead dropped them out of the hatch, watching as a few smaller fish picked at the remains.

"Karen, I don't know what to do." She sighed before taking a sip of her water bottle. "There could be survivors, but…. I'm just me."

" _ **Transmission origin coordinates are available."**_

"Ugh, I can't keep calling you Karen if your voice is going to be like that. Any way you can revert back to your original voice print?"

" _ **Negative."**_

"Well, then you need a new system name."

" _ **System ready."**_

Dae thought for a moment biting her lip. "It should be an interesting name." She muttered to herself.

" _ **System ready."**_ Dae nodded absentmindedly and frowned to herself. _**"Names can be pulled from databank if needed."**_

"Oh," Dae blinked looking up. "You want to name yourself?"

" _ **Drawing appropriate names from databank."**_ It was silent for a moment. _**"Thane, Xander, John, Edward, Dante, Felix, Mark, Sean, Appsro, Phil, Chris."**_ Dae giggled at the sudden outpouring of names.

"Which do you like?" She asked cheekily.

" _ **Xander."**_ Dae felt herself still slightly. The PDA shouldn't have a preference, or at least she supposed it shouldn't. She had talked to Karen like a real person for a while now and she had never given anything but bland responses.

"Okay," Dae said cautiously, "your new name is Xander."

" _ **System name accepted."**_ Xander's response was the same as before when she had named it Karen, and that eased some strange knot of tension in her chest.

"Right, so…. what we need to do is get to the coordinates. Figure out where Keen is meeting up with other survivors, and then we can all wait for the sunbeam together!" She clapped her hands together trying to force some exuberance back into her voice. The gesture felt empty, who was she performing for? She was alone still.

"I need to find other people." She muttered to herself slipping out of Henry's bottom hatch to slide into the waters below. She watched as her oxygen counter slowly started ticking down. Dae grimly wondered what would kill her first, the lack of oxygen, the deadly creatures, or her going insane.

She grimaced chasing after the alien fish, her body protesting heavily. Dae eventually gather enough supplies for another trip, but something deep within her stomach curdled at the thought of skirting over the ocean again. The thought of the Reaper, it's red maw opening wide. Crushing her ship, and in turn, crushing her. She let herself hang above the beige carpet of sand, interrupted with spurs of color, watching the flourishing life around her.

"I'm scared." She admitted to the uncaring landscape. "I'm really scared."

It offered no response. She sighed tilted her face up toward the surface, watching the light break upon the waves above filtering down to her in dancing streams.

"I can't let this stop me." She tried to give herself a pep talk but the words felt flat. "This is stupid." She growled. "What's the point of any of this? I'm scared and probably going to die alone on this miserable planet where no one will mourn my death. Anyone who would have cared must be dead by now." She let her gaze shift toward the burning wreckage of the Aurora, warped through the water's surface. Still burning. "I can't even remember…. what I was doing aboard that ship. Everything is hazy." She admitted quietly. "I remember Alterra though. They won't mourn me, that's for sure."

Credits were all that mattered to Alterra. And she wasn't making them by swimming around on an ocean planet.

"I could always show them that weird black box." She muttered darkly. "They might care then."

She shook her head focusing herself back on the task at hand. She gathered enough to last her at least a little while away from Henry.

" _ **Warning. Local radiation readings suggest the Aurora's drive core has reached critical state."**_ Dae jerked at the sudden voice, a small gasp breaking from her. _ **"Quantum detonation will occur within 2 hours."**_

"W-what do you mean?" Dae gasped immediately breaking surface to stare at the wreckage. "Karen...I mean Xander, fuck." She spluttered. "Is there anything I can do?"

" _ **Taking into account the time restraints and our lack of knowledge, no there is nothing we can do."**_ Xander's voice was cool, restrained. Dae felt dread sink it's claws into her stomach.

"What will happen to us?"

" _ **Predictive models show you are out of detonation range. It is recommended to stay close to lifepod 5."**_

"Right." She breathed, tasting salt. "What am I going to do now?" She asked, feeling the telltale sting of tears. "What if there are still people inside?"

" _ **It is recommended to stay close to-"**_

"Shut up." She snapped feeling the first tears beginning to fall. "There has to be something I can do. What if someone's alive in there? What if someone's near there?"

" _ **There is no viable option-"**_

"I said shut up!" Dae nearly screamed, a sob ripping out of her throat a moment later. "You don't get it! You're just a machine!" Anger felt good. "You don't care about lives. You're just data, you don't get it. I'm all alone. What if there's people there? What if they can't get out in time. What if I'm the only one left? You don't care about saving people! They could have been saved if I hadn't…. if I hadn't…." She had ignored Karen's warnings before. Too focused on her own survival to think about the ramifications of a detonation.

" _ **There are likely no survivors."**_ Xander's voice was quieter somehow. Subdued. She was going insane. The thought was a sobering one.

"That's what I'm afraid of."


End file.
